The faint radio sky: radio astronomy becomes mainstream

• DOI: 10.1007/s00159-016-0098-6
• Publication Date: 2016-09-29T12:15:48Z
• Authors: Paolo Padovani
• Keywords: Radio Astronomy; Galactic astronomy; Extragalactic astronomy

Radio astronomy has changed. After years of studying rare, mostly non-thermal sources, i.e. radio quasars and radio galaxies, it is now reaching such faint flux densities that it detects mainly star-forming galaxies and the more common radio-quiet active galactic nuclei. I follow the transformation of radio astronomy and describe its relevance for a number of hot topics in extragalactic astronomy. The future prospects of the faint radio sky are very bright, as we will soon be flooded with survey data. This talk is based on a recent review paper I am currently writing for Astronomy and Astrophysics Review.